Adverse winds meant it took two days for the Saracen to leave Port Hamilton. The
subsequent journey to Hakodadi was made in difficult sailing conditions, during which
time Richards would have had concerns other than threatening weather and thick fog
to consider. He would have been unsure of the supplies on offer in the Japanese port
but, having been unable to replenish foodstuffs on the three islands, authorised
another barrel of meat to be opened. This provided 40 pieces of pork. A cask of sugar
was opened too and the contents, 226 lbs, carefully weighed before distribution.
A restricted diet was always a cause of anxiety to the captain of any Royal Navy
ship and, although Richards did not know it, there had been an outbreak of scurvy
on La Sybille, a French frigate sailing with Stirling to the rendezvous in Hakodadi.
This was so severe that the ship eventually had to turn back, an unfortunate situation
which compounded difficulties caused when another French vessel, the Colbert, struck
a rock and had to return to port for repairs. An officer, A.W. Habersham, sailing
on the United States survey squadron steamer USS John Hancock, which was also making
its way to Hakodadi, complained that he and his fellow officers had been compelled
to live for eight months on salt beef, ditto pork and insipid meats with forty gallons
of lime juice on hand to retard the arrival of scurvy. He and his compatriots looked
forward to a break in the monotonous diet when they were presented with two chickens
as they sailed along the coast of Japan but these, so he said, were so old and tough
they proved impenetrable to even our scurvy threatened teeth.

Besides deliberations over victuals Richards must also have been aware that as the
Saracen sailed further north the possibility of meeting Russian ships would grow
and may have been perturbed had he known that all the ships in Petropavlovsk, including
the Aurora, had departed before Bruce arrived. There was, of course, the ever present
threat of meeting pirates too and a careful watch was kept for the sails of vessels
which might be hostile. However, all that appear to have been seen were a junk and,
for the first time, an American whaler. Had an engagement taken place the Saracen
would doubtless have put up a good fight and many sailors may have welcomed the opportunity
to use their training in the use of the cutlass.

The type of cutlass stored on the ship was probably of the 1845 pattern, with a slightly
curved blade and a smooth bowl guard. These were not always used for practice, sticks
often being substituted when two rows of sailors faced each other for training. However,
it was important that each man was capable of using the real thing in action and
once the cutlasses were issued the instructor would have insisted on repeating, again
and again, movements that would facilitate ambidextrous handling of the weapon. The
cut, guard and parry were all important but did not overshadow the importance of
the thrust. Faster than the slashing cut a successful thrust would plunge the blade
into the vital organs of an opponent and cause a wound that, at the least, could
be difficult to treat and in many cases would prove fatal. However, useful though
the drill may have been in maintaining morale, the crew of the Saracen had no opportunity
to use a cutlass in a skirmish on the nine day voyage.

After the Saracen passed into the Strait of Sangar she entered Hakodadi Bay, which
was regarded, according to the 1858 edition of the China Pilot, published by the
Admiralty, as spacious and beautiful. About four miles wide at the entrance and five
miles deep it was for accessibility and safety … one of the finest in the world.
Praise indeed and lifted directly from ‘Narrative of the Expedition to China Seas
and Japan 1852-54’ by Commodore Perry. A battery of guns stood on the western shore
but these remained silent as the Saracen entered and after the anchor was dropped
the guard boat which came alongside did not issue instructions that she should leave
immediately. Until very recently this was the kind of reception foreign ships had
been given but things had begun to change after Perry’s expedition and Hakodadi Bay
itself had been surveyed by the United States Navy. Moreover, in April, the Sybille,
Hornet and Bittern had visited the port on their way north. Commodore Elliot, who
was in command, reported to Stirling that he had been well received and that a substantial
number of officials had recently arrived from Edo under a new governor who could
overrule the local daimyo. Although there was no sign of the British squadron when
the Saracen arrived, as they had left to seek the Russians, another Western vessel,
which was recorded as an American merchant brig in the log, lay at anchor.

How the Japanese officer who came on board the Saracen felt about the change in government
policy towards Western powers is unknown but he must have already been aware of the
strength of the United States Navy. Over the next few weeks, as Stirling concentrated
his forces in Hakodadi, he must have realised just how powerful the Royal and French
navies were too, especially in contrast to the forces Japan could muster. This consciousness
of the current weakness of the Japanese position was, of course, something also felt
in government circles and was the reason why Perry had been so successful. It was
also why unequal treaties, under which the Edo authorities gave up currency, fiscal
and tariff autonomy, were soon signed with the United States, Holland, Britain, France
and other European states. Such concessions were made under duress and nurtured a
determination to restrict, where possible, Western encroachment even though it was
accepted that the only way to strengthen Japan was through the accelerated adoption
and development of Western technology, ideas and processes.

In several ways Japan in the 1850s was as advanced as some of the states which sought
to exploit her weakness and draw her into the global free trade system or, as the
US Secretary to the Navy had reminded Perry, to awaken the Japanese Government to
its Christian obligation to join the family of Christendom. Whilst remaining untroubled
by any sense of Christian obligation Japan had enjoyed, for over two centuries, a
period of relative internal tranquillity and had no involvement in foreign wars.
This helped foster civil development including a huge expansion of the amount of
land devoted to paddy and the improvement of agricultural techniques, which led to
her agricultural productivity being higher than that of her neighbours. The largest
city of the country, Edo, was probably second only in size to London and was far
better organised, not least as far as sanitation was concerned. It would have been
unthinkable for a river running through Edo to have been allowed to become as polluted
as the stinking River Thames of that period. The literacy rate in Edo was better
too, despite the complexity of Japanese alphabet and although artisans did not mass
produce cutlasses such as those with ‘Wilkinson Pall Mall’ stamped on the blades
the quality of the steel produced by Japanese swordsmiths was some of the finest
in the world. However, there were grave weaknesses in the social structure of the
country and these were rooted in the very system which had ushered in and maintained
the long period of peace.

Supreme authority in Japan was ostensibly in the hands of a mikado, or emperor, but
for centuries real power had resided with a shogun, a powerful, hereditary figure
also known as a tycoon, to whom the daimyo, or lords, owed allegiance. In 1600 Tokugawa
Ieyasu had won the decisive Battle of Sekigahara and established the Tokugawa dynasty.
As shogun he then drew on loyal daimyo to serve in the feudal parliament, the bakufu,
an institution which still held power when the Black Ships arrived. But by the 1850s
the Tokugawa shogunate was much weakened and faced not only an increasingly restless,
and sometimes rebellious, peasantry, on whom most of the tax burden disproportionately
fell, but also a merchant class dissatisfied with the rigidity of the social class
system. Moreover the warrior class, the samurai, were increasingly indebted and this
added to stresses on the economy.

Had Japan been more open to the outside world during the Tokugawa period perhaps
it would have been possible to negotiate with the West from a position of greater
strength but in the middle of the C17th she had entered a period known as Sakoku
in which she became very, but not totally, isolated. Strangely, this isolation may
well have had something to do with Will Adams, a man who knew Limehouse well and
who had served in the Royal Navy before eventually taking a position as a pilot for
a small fleet sent from Holland to try their luck in the Pacific.

Adams reached Japan in April 1600 on one of the ships of the fleet, the Liefde. Many
of the crew were sick and the vessel was in poor condition but the daimyo of the
area where the Liefde made landfall, Tokugawa Ieyasu, apparently saw the value of
the cannon she carried, ordered them to be unloaded and sent them to his armoury.
It may well have been that the added firepower was decisive in the Battle of Sekigahara
in which case we might take the view that Western naval guns both helped begin and
helped end the Tokugawa Shogunate. At first Adams was placed under arrest but after
a time, when Ieyasu became shogun, he was released and set to work in helping to
build a ship on the European model, which would be used for survey work. When that
was complete Ieyasu was so pleased he began to take advice from Adams on more things
than shipbuilding. It was almost inevitable that this would bring the Protestant
Englishman into conflict with the Jesuits, who had been established in Japan for
several decades, and it appears that Adams may well have counselled Ieyasu over the
problems that the establishment of Catholicism seemed to have created. Perhaps there
was an element of revenge in this. When the Liefde arrived Catholic priests had demanded
the crew, Adams included, be crucified as pirates.

Catholicism was subsequently banned in Japan and this was followed by the persecution
of those who would not relinquish their faith. The establishment of Catholicism was
now viewed as a precursor to a possible invasion by the Iberian states and C19th
Japanese historians asserted that the introduction of Christianity had generated
a number of negative trends within their society. It is certainly true that firearms,
in the form of arquebuses, became widely available after the Portuguese arrived in
the middle of the C16th. To reinforce the barriers against what were seen as malign
foreign, and particularly Western, influences, restrictions were placed on trade
(although the Dutch were allowed to maintain a very limited base) as the C17th wore
on and long sea voyages made virtually impossible by a law enacted in 1689. This
ordered that all junks were to be built with open sterns and equipped with large
square rudders, which would make them unfit for ocean sailing, and all ships built
on the foreign model were to be destroyed. Such a measure ended the possibility of
more vessels like the one Adams had designed being built in Japan although the junk
trade to Japan from east and south-east Asia, using vessels constructed abroad, continued.
Indeed, it appeared to have flourished. During the 1640s and 50s, for example, nearly
40 junks arrived in Japan from Cambodia, surpassing the numbers which sailed from
Siam, and in the 1690s records show the relatively buoyant trade was continuing despite
Sakoku.

When no objections were raised by the authorities to the work Richards was to undertake
at Hakodadi the ship’s boats were prepared for survey duties and the Saracen itself
was given the usual restorative treatment. Out came the paint, the holystone and
the blacking. It is doubtful if any of the crew looked forward to this particular
element of the routine of life aboard their ship. A holystone was Portland stone.
A large piece could be hauled backwards and forwards by two men pulling on an attached
rope. As abrasive sand would be spread beneath the stone this action would remove
dirt from the wood. Smaller holystones, known as ‘bibles’, would be used in difficult
areas but these would necessitate the sailors working on their hands and knees so
this work would usually be arduous and unpleasant. Blacking, for use on the guns,
was usually slightly warmed coal tar mixed with salt water, although a variety of
other ingredients, including lamp black, might be used. The compound would be applied
to the guns using paint brushes and if the day was very cold a heated cannon ball
might be pushed into the barrel to warm the metal in order to improve adhesion. Once
a gun had been blacked rust would be held at bay until the coating began to weather
and more would then be reapplied. Rigging would also be blacked, using a solution
of pine tar, coal tar and water. This would have been a messy job that would have
left its mark on skin and clothes, so little wonder British sailors were nicknamed
‘Jack Tar’.

As the Saracen was being overhauled Richards began his surveying duties. He does
not seem to have spent much time in Hakodadi Bay itself, probably because of the
previous work done by the United States Navy and when a detailed chart was issued
by the Admiralty in 1859 acknowledgment was given to Lt. W.L. Maury and other Americans
with no indication of any input from a British survey ship. When the French produced
their own version of the chart in 1860 even Lt. Maury was not acknowledged. Instead
it was stated that the chart had been created ‘par ordre du Commodore M. C. Perry
de la Marine des Etas-Unis’. This was probably just as well. In the same year the
American Civil War broke out and Maury decided to offer his services to the navy
of the Confederacy rather than the ‘Etas-Unis’. It was ironic that his command, the
CSS Georgia started life as the British built Japan.

The town of Hakodadi had a population of approximately 6000 and was sheltered by
a promontory which was dominated by three high peaks, sometimes topped with snow.
A substantial junk trade was conducted from the sheltered harbour, which meant there
were always plenty of transient mouths to feed, and the inhabitants, depending on
their station, may have looked with either apprehension or anticipation (or perhaps
a mixture of both) at the arrival, with the new governor, of two hundred officials
and then an increasing number of Western ships. The China Pilot, to which Richards
would also make a contribution, indicated that water was freely available in Hakodadi
and at the nearby Kamida creek. Wood was also plentiful but supplies of food had
been limited when American ships visited in the last weeks of May 1854. However,
Commodore Elliot reported that there was plenty to buy by the time of his visit in
April 1855 although it was not possible to purchase beef because, although there
were plenty of cattle, they would not be killed for food as the animals were more
valuable as beasts of burden. Generally speaking the Japanese diet did not include
milk or butter and one product which looked like cheese was, in fact, a blend of
beans and rice flour. Rice was served instead of bread and this was supplemented
with all kinds of sea food including fine shell fish. Sweet and Irish potatoes could
be sometimes purchased in Hakodadi too but, feeling somewhat deprived of the fresh
bread, beef and vegetables that they had been supplied with in Hong Kong, all on
board the Saracen were probably gratified when the captain ordered an issue of chocolate
and then, a week later, when a cask of boiled mutton was opened.

As the sailors enjoyed their chocolate treat Hakodadi Bay was hosting a steadily
increasing number of their compatriots, all with healthy appetites and probably craving
for a variation of diet too. The steamer Tartar had turned up first followed by the
Winchester and then an American brigantine arrived from San Francisco. The Spartan
came next, then the John Hancock, the Vincennes, the Styx, the Fennimore Cooper,
achartered brig from Bremen called the Greta, and finally two French ships La Sybille
and the Virginne. Some of these vessels, which all arrived within the space of about
a month, stayed only a day or so, but it is little surprise that the Japanese authorities
objected to the drain which they said was being made on local resources or that they
attempted to make money from subsequent dealings. Elliot complained that all supplies
had to be bought through the government at inflated prices and Habersham related
one story of how, in his opinion, officials attempted to profiteer from the supply
of food.

As with the Saracen the John Hancock sent out parties to haul the seine and plenty
of salmon, perch, trout and flounder were caught in Hakodadi Bay. But then officials
then turned up and said they were catching too many fish, much to the detriment of
local people, who were very poor and depended on seafood for their sustenance. Habersham
took the view that the assertion of the officials was absurd as there were plenty
for everyone, but it was agreed that the Americans would buy a catch from the officials
instead and, provided it was of good quality, the seine nets would not be used again.
However, when the fish sent for sale proved to be very inferior, there was no further
negotiation. The seine nets of the John Hancock were immediately restored to use
and a subsequent altercation on the beach led to Japanese officials being chased
off by Habersham and his sailors. This seems fairly typical. On the whole the Americans
seemed less inclined to acquiesce to the demands of Japanese officialdom than the
British but then they had a less delicate balance to maintain. It was the state of
war which made the difference. Stirling had to consider the dangers posed by the
Russians whilst maintaining an equitable relationship with the Japanese whose port
he was using as a base for hostile action. The United States, neutral in the conflict,
had greater freedom of action in respect of the Japanese and their whalers sometimes
aided the Russians too.